Not a Stranger
by Hexmeisterin
Summary: Sarah realizes that her best friend, Angelina isn't as much of a stranger to the Labyrinth as she once though
1. Friends and Foes

Okay folks. Here's the deal this is my FIRST Laby fic, so if ya like puh- leeez leave a contribution in the lil box to help future chapters. : ) Enjoy.  
  
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Sarah shoved the door open and collapsed into a giggling heap in the doorway.  
  
"Sar?" A robed figure with wet honey-colour curls and eyes like stormy emeralds appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Sarah's best friend and flat mate, Angelina poked her head around the door, and, seeing that Sarah was crying, she was quickly kneeling beside her. "What's up?" Angelina asked softly, a frown creasing her forehead.  
  
"Oh god, Angel?" Angelina smiled at her friends name for her.  
  
"Yeah, I'm here Sarah. What happened?" She whispered, hugging the girl next to her as she continued to laugh.  
  
"Nuh-thing.." Angelina smiled and stood up, bringing Sarah back a mug of hot chocolate and sitting next to her again, with an arm around Sarah's shoulders.  
  
"Suure, Sarah. Tell me - EVERYTHING." She said dramatically and Sarah laughed.  
  
Sarah was so glad that she finally had a best friend who understood her moods and what happened in her life.  
  
Hell, Sarah thought, I've told her about the Labyrinth and she believed that, really says something about our friendship.  
  
Sarah and Angelina had met at a Fantasy convention shortly after Sarah returned from the Labyrinth and had bonded over their love of fairy tales and children's fantasy stories. Sarah had told Angelina of her escapade through the labyrinth after her little brother Toby and she had believed her, although been a little annoyed that Sarah had not told her in the first place. And since then there had been no secrets between the two in their 6-year friendship.  
  
"Well," Sarah began, toying with her now almost-empty mug. "I went to see Toby today, and apparently -- " Sarah paused and took a drink of chocolate until Angelina nudged her in the ribs.  
  
"APPARENTLY -- WHAT?!" Angelina demanded impatiently and Sarah giggled.  
  
"Apparently, good little 6-year-old Toby told his mother where to go when she said it was time for me to leave." Sarah finished and both girls burst out laughing.  
  
Angelina giggled and sipped at her coffee. "And I presume Karen doesn't hold you completely blameless at the introduction of these words into his vocabulary?" She asked with a smile.  
  
Sarah smiled and paused, trying to think of a decent retort. "Well, I - " She faltered and scowled at her friend's giggling and then started to giggle herself. Sarah sighed dramatically. "NOW I remember why I keep you around, you make me laugh at how seriously I take myself." The two friends continued laughing and stood up together, making their way upstairs to get changed for their Friday night drinks.  
  
Angelina knocked violently on Sarah's door, buttoning up her close fitting green silk shirt. "HURRY UP." Angelina slipped on her black, heeled boots and opens Sarah's door.  
  
Sarah grinned at her friend in the mirror. "I'll never convince you to wear anything that wasn't at one stage capable of moving, will I?" Angelina never wore anything synthetic, she didn't own a pair of shoes that weren't leather. Sarah hadn't been able to work out why, she put it down to her strange quasi-hippy parents. "Ok, OK!" She pulled on her tight black shirt, proclaiming rockstar in fake-diamond studs and stood up, pulling her red vinyl skirt down. She smiled at Angelina, "Do I look alright?" She asked.  
  
Angelina grinned. "Hell yeah, gurl! You look rockin." Sarah giggled and slid on her platforms and the two left Sarah's room and walked to the hallway to put their make-up on.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Jareth, the Goblin King sat - or rather sprawled - over his throne in his kingdom Underground. He toyed idly with a crystal, letting his thoughts drift to the girl that had beaten his Labyrinth 7 years ago. "Show me Sarah," He commanded and his eyes widened to the size of saucers when he saw the dark, raven-haired Sarah and her taller, fairer friend. "My, my, don't they make quite the pair," He murmured and licked his lips unconsciously. Jareth watched as they laughed together and stood in the hallway mirror, paying careful attention to their reflections. "Might just be time to pay Sarah and her little friend a visit I think." He whispered to no one in particular with a smirk. Jareth stood and swaggered to the window, kicking any unfortunate goblin that might get in his way. The sun was setting a glorious orange-gold, through a haze of dark clouds and behind a flash of lightening. Jareth smiled genuinely at the mix of emotions his labyrinth was displaying, some that he wasn't even aware of himself. With a small laugh, he disappeared and all that was left was a white barn owl flying amongst the barrage of colours in the sunset.  
  
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Angelina sat alone at the bar and tugged down her short leather skirt, nursing her Malibu and smiled as she saw her friend approached by yet another guy, hoping for a dance with her. She sighed and finished her drink and then grinned wickedly as the DJs changed and the weak-beat pop was replaced by heavy, tribal inspired techno. She jumped off her chair and slipped between the mass of people grinding to the music, and closed her eyes, letting the rhythm wash over her in waves.  
  
She smiled as a pair of masculine arms wrapped around her waist and she leaned back into them, grinding back into the body behind her, belonging to the arms. She smiled and spun around, only to come face to face with one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen. Long, white-blond tresses frame an alabaster face with mismatched, yet beautiful eyes, only slightly taller than herself, clad in tight black leather pants and boots and a black tee shirt. She smiled as she quickly took him in and focuses on the music again. She circled round him, looking him up and down and smiled as she returned to face him. Giving her most seductive smile, Angelina disappeared back to the bar with Sarah for a final drink before they both decided to head home.  
  
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Jareth's eyebrows arched into his hairline as her watched Angelina's retreating figure. ::And here I thought Sarah couldn't get good friends..:: He smirked at the thought and disappeared back to his kingdom underground with only a hint of glitter under the strobe lighting.  
  
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Well that's all I got at the moment. If you like it PLEASE leave something in the little box. Reviews make me write faster ;) 


	2. En Garde Goblin King

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"Oh come ON Sarah!! It will be fun, and I know how you LOVE medieval history and especially the costume!! And I'm the only female in Tourney!!" Angelina threw her hands up in the air with exasperation. "For crying out loud, It's not as if doing this will make HIM come back!!" She yelled and Sarah let slip a small smile at her usually composed friend.  
  
"I suppose you're right, As USUAL." Sarah replied quietly with a dramatic sigh, causing Angelina to giggle.  
  
"Oh Sar, you are soo gonna be an actress. I don't know why you take history and psychology, you should be taking theatre classes." Angelina shook her head. "Oh well whatever floats your boat." She smiled as Sarah threw a cushion at her.  
  
"Angel, don't be like that. You know I'm good at what I do. I'm not confident enough for acting." Sarah whispered with a small sigh. "I'm not like you, Ms-actress-of-the-class."  
  
Angelina laughed. "Suure and that counts now? I'm not even gonna repeat what other merits I was awarded, but I believe it was something along the lines of - Easiest girl of the class." The two friends laughed quietly. Angelina could and did kick any guys arse that tried to hit on her. Unwelcomely that is. Angelina stood up and smiled, pulling her friend up by her wrists. "Ok..well you know it's tonight.right?" Angelina teased and ducked as Sarah threw a pillow at her.  
  
"No..you only told me about a HUNDRED times." She replied with a raised eyebrow. "Ok, ok. Let's go get dressed." It was times like these that Sarah was glad she had learned how to sew. She had made herself a bodice of deep red silk, embroidered with black and hints of silver, and a red velvet skirt adorned similarly, with swirling filigree-style patterns in black and silver. She donned her outfit and brushed her hair, slipping on her shoes and walking downstairs to wait for Angelina to finish.  
  
Angelina walked downstairs, dressed in a deep purple silk dress embroidered with Celtic symbols around the plunging neckline. The dress was of one layer and hugged her curves beautifully, with a split in the right side and black lace up boots, she shifted her bag on her shoulder. Sarah stared, her mouth hanging open slightly.  
  
"And here I thought you were trying to go for authenticity. Well." Sarah smiled as she reconsidered. "You could be an authentic harlet." Sarah giggled as her friend aims a playful punch at her arm. "You ready?.Whore O Babylon." Angelina scowled at Sarah.  
  
"This ends NOW, or thou shalt suffer the consequences later." She raises an eyebrow in warning.  
  
Sarah grins. "Yes, yes, I get it. I wont humiliate you in front of all your hard-core medieval society friends. However sorely I would like to."  
  
"I'll put a new meaning to the word sore if you don't shut up." Angelina grumbled and shook her head as they left their apartment, for the short walk to the Hall.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
Jareth smiled wickedly. ::How truly perfect. I couldn't have planned this better myself. Well..nah:: He smiled and dismissed the crystal and dressed quickly in grey silk shirt black leather breeches and boots. He smiled and transformd into his animal form, flying out his balcony window and towards the hall in the Aboveground where Angelina and Sarah are spending their evening.  
  
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Sarah smiled, standing around the edge of the room, nursing her burnished copper goblet of mulled wine, when a slight breeze slid across the hall and she felt a warm presence behind her. She turned slowly to see a familiar tall, blond and handsome fae, for once clothed fittingly, standing behind her and stared wide-eyed. Jareth whispered something to her and she promptly fainted.  
  
Jareth was just about to sit her in a chair when a young man, took her deftly from his arms, he started to object when he felt a long, and deathly sharp blade at his throat. "Well, well," came the low, deadly voice, no louder than a whisper, and Jareth looked up to face his assailant as the pressure eased off the dagger. He turned only to see an annoyingly familiar woman, clad in red silk dress, leather boots and chain-mail shirt, still wielding the dagger dangerously.  
  
"You're.You're.." Jareth frowned. "Who the hell are you?!" he replied, irritated at not being able to place her.  
  
"I am many things to different people." She answered evasively. "Probably the one you're most familiar with, the girl from the club." She smiled slightly as recognition flooded his face, followed closely by anger and his usual air of contemptuous hostility.  
  
Jareth growled softly. "You dared to threaten the life of the Goblin King.." He glared. "You will not get away with this." He smirked angrily and a crystal appeared in the palm of his hand, but before he had time to act upon it, he was being forced outside, with his arm bent behind his back and the point of a blade at the nape of his neck.  
  
"Out." Came the threatening and obviously angry growl of Angelina. "I wont have you making a scene, Jareth." She said softly, with all the consistency in her tone of a born diplomat. Angelina deftly shut the door and lifted her dagger off Jareth's neck, twirling it idly in her grasp. "Now. What do you want from Sarah this time, you cold, arrogant, worthless PRICK." She spat the words like poison. The Goblin King's eyes flared like blue and green fire and he smirked grimly.  
  
"My, my, you are a thoughtless CHILD." He emphasised the last word with such fire that Angelina almost flinched. Almost.  
  
"Really? How's that?" She asks, nonchalantly drawing her silver-bladed sword at the simple black leather and Jet hilt.  
  
"You come outside, alone, with the Goblin King, after insulting him mind you, and have nothing to defend yourself with other than a bastard sword which you cannot wield let alone use." He sneered. Angelina merely smiled.  
  
"Care to make a wager on that one?" She asked casually, and Jareth smirked at her arrogance. "Get a sword and we'll see." She continued with a small smile. Jareth finally recovered and a Gold-bladed sword, with an ornate crimson crystal hilt, inlaid with pieces of platinum appears in his grasp. Angelina grinned showing her perfectly white, straight teeth. "Very nice." She lifted her sword to his and the duel began.  
  
Angelina and Jareth moved back and forth, lunging and parrying, through the frosty night, amazingly well matched, Jareth being constantly surprised by Angelina's abilities with the sword, although he would do anything but show it. Finally, Angelina sees an opening and lunges, Jareth's sword is knocked to the ground and she pressed the point of her sword to his throat. Jareth stared at the woman at the end of the sword and smiled.  
  
"You are."Jareth faltered, at a loss for words for the second time that night, before recovering his regal, condescending veneer. "Your abilities with a sword are comparable - for a woman, that his." He finished almost with a sneer. Angelina's eyes flashed like green flame and she swiped the point of her sword around the edge of his neck, drawing a thin line of crimson blood over his pale skin.  
  
"Oh, So sorry, GOBLIN king." She whispered venomously, and Jareth frowned. Before he could muster a suitable retort, Angelina had spun on her heel and was striding back to the hall.  
  
Jareth slipped into the hall and scanned the room for Sarah and Angelina, and not finding them, left the Hall and returned to his kingdom with a growl, his wounded pride his only comfort. 


	3. Royal Revelations

Sarah sat and gaped at her best friend. "You mean all this time I have been best friends with someone from the underground?! No wonder you weren't shocked when I told you about the Labyrinth." Sarah blinked repeatedly, trying to take in this revelation. "Wow. So should I be calling you something else? I mean, after all, Angelina is the only name that I know to call you, and given my experiences in the underground - I doubt that Angelina is your name." Sarah smiled at 'Angelina' and she laughed.  
  
"Well you know at least that much about the underground. Deahnayra, It means." She blushes slightly. "Goddess of the Forest. But, " Sarah arches an eyebrow at her best friend who laughs. "If I ever hear you call me anything but Deahna or Angel, you're in for it. You're my friend, so call me by my real name, except when we're outside, Because if Jareth finds out who I am.it may mean the end of my people." She glanced up at Sarah. "Ok?" Sarah smiled and nodded.  
  
"Good to know that there has at least been *SOME* truth in our, what? Five year friendship?" Daehna stuck her tongue out at Sarah. "So tell me about your -- " Sarah hazards a guess. ".Kingdom? And its people." Both girls smiled and Sarah sipped at her coffee.  
  
"Where to begin," Daehna mumbled to no one in particular as she played with her ring.  
  
Sarah rolled her eyes at her best friend. "How about the beginning sweetie?" She replied with a grin and both girls laughed again.  
  
"Ok, OK." Daehna paused and took a deep breath. "I'm..I'm the queen-to-be of a secluded nation in the underground. Little known now, but notorious in legend, for the prowess of its warriors and their abilities at warcraft. We are a Rename, or Queendom. I suspect that you have heard of the nation of Amazon women? Warrioresses who, at one stage terrorised all nations, near and far, But at the same time living with only what they can build or make or grow themselves." Sarah nodded her response and Angelina continued. "They, I believe, are based on observations of my people, the Araxtiens."  
  
Sarah's eyes widened as quirks in her best friend's personality begin to make perfect sense. Why she was the best fighter in the SCA for thirty years, at least; Why she refused to wear anything in the least synthetic, Why she took so many (particularly Grecian) mythology classes at college. It all made so much more sense now. "Whoa" Sarah sat digesting this information. "So.do you know who your parents are.or were?"  
  
Daehna smiled. "My Father was a High Faen lord and my Mot--" Sarah choked on her coffee, cutting Daehna off.  
  
"WHAT?! Faen. as in.JARETH-ISH FAEN?!!?!" The other girl frowned slightly, but nodded. "So you're half Faean." Sarah shook her head in amazement. "So if your father was a faen lord, who was your mother? The Amaz.Araxitiani queen? Is that how you became princess?"  
  
"My mother, was the high healer at the time. The reason that I am princess is that two months after the old queen has died, and the princess acceded her, All girls, between the ages of 10 and 11 are sorted into a tourney, a fight which will determine five girls, who are then given an intelligence test. The one with the strongest mental and physical powers is to become the new princess. The Queen-to-be is trained extensively in fighting; hand to hand, quarterstaff, sword and projectile; warcraft and a little magik, for those that have the ability, along with all the processes of letters and numbers. The whole lot."  
  
"That clears up a few things, afterall, you were AMAZING when you duelled J- Him. Could you.uhm.Would you." Sarah flushed "Wouldyouteachmetofightlikeyou?" She blurted out, leaving Daehna looking very taken aback, but all the same she smiled happily.  
  
"OF COURSE, SARAH!!" Daehna exclaimed happily before regaining control over herself. "You are entitled to that training by Araxian custom."  
  
Sarah stood frozen "Wh-whatt?"  
  
Daehna chuckled softly and put an arm around Sarah. "You, are my half sister. By my mother and another High lord, meaning that you are also, Half- Faean. If I were to die, you would become heiress to the throne, if you wish. But," Daehna paused watching Sarah closely. "If you decide to accept this training, you are obligated to accept the responsibility to your people that comes with it."  
  
Sarah sat quietly, warming her hands on her mug. She sipped the rest of her coffee and stood up to hug her best friend and half-sister. "When do we begin?"  
  
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A goblin quickly scuttled out of the way as the king threw a crystal at him, watching it shatter on the floor with intense satisfaction.  
  
Jareth sat, or more correctly, sprawled over his throne, brow furrowed in frustration. ..:WHY?:.. The one thought did laps around his mind. ..:The crystal was clouded, WHY, why WHY?!:.. He had been in this state since realising that his attempts at looking in on Sarah, and stranger still, her best friend, Angelina were completely fruitless while they were inside a building. He had few problems outside, but he was increasingly bothered with his inability to keep tabs on everything they said and did. He could have gone to the above ground as an owl, but that was by far more likely to catch their attention. ..:what could POSSIBLY be inhibiting my magik like this?:.. His thoughts grated down well worn tracks. ..:The only thing I know that I know of that could do this is Faen magik. And if it is Faen magik.who is the wielder and why does he or she have such an interest in these two?:.. The Goblin King paced in aggrivation, he summoned a crystal and once more tried to look in on Sarah and her best friend and By some odd quirk, he was able to. He stared deep into the crystal at the two girls sitting outside at a café outside. ..: Well that explains why it's working:.. They were laughing and smiling, an odd change from the last time he had seen them, particularly since Sarah had been unconscious at the time. Jareth watched them until them went inside and the crystal clouded over again. He banished it angrily and sunk back into his thoughts of the two women and why his crystals were useless at that point. 


End file.
